“Concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more… We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you… See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10; 5:12-13a,15
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ” 1 John 3:16-18; 4:10-11
Love as Christ loves. Lay down your life for your friends. Love your enemies and pray for them. Be patient and humble and kind. These are tall orders for the child of God, but expected heavenly standards. They do not come naturally, but by the word’s instruction and Spirit’s enabling, the vital and required become reality. (Matthew 5:44)
The old commandment for God’s people rang in the early church and still tolls today. The call and example of Christ remind us that only in laying down our lives and all the passions that drive us can we make wise choices conducive to God’s free flowing love. He helps us discern misplaced affections, identify weaknesses, and steels the will to denounce them and do the right thing. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; 1 John 2:5-7; Leviticus 19:18)
How actively do we practice the specific attitudes and actions God lists within our relationships? Where are we getting deterred by worldly comparisons or personal preferences, and need to gaze at the cross for realignment? Whom is God teaching us to love more, and better? ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; 1 John 2:15-16)
“Spirit of God, who dwells within my heart,
wean it from sin, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as you are,
and make me love you as I ought to love.
Did you not bid us love you, God and King,
love you with all our heart and strength and mind?
I see the cross— there teach my heart to cling.
O let me seek you and O let me find!
“Teach me to love you as your angels love,
one holy passion filling all my frame:
the fullness of the heaven-descended Dove;
my heart an altar, and your love the flame.” ~George Croly (1854)
Lord, ever direct my heart to the love of God and steadfastness of Christ in loving others in Your name and for Your sake and glory. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)
As the rain and snow 